Thinking on what is AHS… it dawned on me I AM AHS.
Myself and all the amazing HCW colleagues that make up this massive health org
Sure it’s not perfect. Sure “it” frustrates me at times.
But when you boil it down it is an org of amazing people working hard in hard times
AHS and it’s team has done some really amazing work over the last couple of years while faced with unprecedented (cringe word, but it really is apt) challenges…
“AHS” has admitted it is struggling.
The Access Block and human resource challenges are real.
Albertans can prioritize supporting and improving the team we have… or they can take a scorch and burn approach and then cross their fingers to see what grows after the conflagration.
Looking at the amazing colleagues I work with every day… who ARE AHS… I’d honestly hate to see more leave. The AHS team is working short handed and overstretched and in need of a plan to bolster it. What’s the plan going to be Alberta?
And yes i know it sounds corny to declare "I AM AHS"... but what is AHS if not the people in it.
Yesterday I was able to get a sick kid from Med Hat to Red Deer for complicated care - think of the people, resources, and specialization involved in something like that....
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If you entered an ED WR and saw this wait time:
Would you wait to find out if that chest pain was your heart or “just heartburn”?
Would you sit with your elderly loved one in a plastic chair for 17hrs to see if their confusion was from something serious?
Would you write you MLA?
I want to be very clear: I want all Albertans to seek care and to still go to their EDs if they are ill/worried.
But to me a posted 17hr wait makes me extremely concerned that THOUSANDS of Albertans may not have safe and timely access to emergency care
We need to raise the alarm
I can guarantee that my HCW colleagues in Red Deer are doing everything they can to see the sickest and to manage in an untenable situation
But the solution to this unmitigated disaster lies outside of the control of what the ED team could address.
Quick health governance primer:
AH=Alberta Health = govt and bureaucrats who set health policy and budget
AHS=Alberta Health Services = medical admin and clinicians that operationalize the health policy
The 2 should be distinct and arms length for many very good reasons
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AH - this is the healthcare outcomes we expect (EMS response times, ED wait times, surgical wait times… so on)
AHS - runs the acute care system and creates longer term plans to achieve these set health goals
The two bodies should be distinct and arms-length
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They should coordinate when policy is created and when AHS performance is reviewed.
But AH and govt should not be involved in the day to day operations of the system, to avoid short lived political issues derailing long term plans in a complex system
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Let’s talk about “Emerg Depts are under strain”:
“Strain” is a euphemism for unmitigated disaster zones.
UAH this AM: 55 admitted in-pts in 50 emerg care spaces.
Means: 55 pts that should be elsewhere in the hospital stuck for DAYS in the ED, out of 50 care spaces total!
This means NO CARE SPACES to see the new undifferentiated emergency pts. Over 60 in the waiting room receiving NO care…
Means senior nurses demoralized and frustrated because they can see pts suffering but can do very little to help them.
This means ambulances lined up in hallways waiting to offload and unavailable for new calls for critically ill in the community.
This means untold pain and suffering for sick Albertans in their time of need.
Picture living in a province where no health authority can quantify how many people are “unattached”, that is they do not have access to a family doctor…. No medical home… no routine primary care…
That’s Alberta.
Maybe the idea is it isn’t a problem if we don’t measure it?
2/ How can policy makers address the issue if they can’t even start by quantifying it?
Maybe some geographical locations are worse then others?
Wouldn’t it be good to know?
I’ve asked @AHS_media / @JasonCoppingAB / @CPSA_CA / @HQCA@Albertadoctors
Numbers not known…
3/ no need to know this for work force planning…
No fix needed if no one thinks it’s broken…
Govt seems to think we have too many family docs…. Creating policy to chase family doctors away… rather then recruit and retain…